The magic of the FA Cup is truly alive and well.
While the theory that the rich clubs get richer and the poor clubs get poorer is, in the most part, true, the FA Cup’s ability to provide the biggest upsets in world football has not been tarnished. Those who doubt the magic of the FA Cup need only look at the weekend’s results.
League One Oldham defeated Liverpool, Leeds knocked off Tottenham, League One MK Dons thrashed QPR, Millwall saw off Aston Villa, Chelsea needed a late Fernando Torres goal to earn a replay with Brentford, and in the weekend’s biggest ‘Cupset’, Luton Town became the first non-league club to eliminate a first-division side in 24 years when they defeated Norwich 1-0 at Carrow Road.
So with reputations damaged and egos bruised, what do last weekend’s surprising FA Cup results mean for the big week of Premier League action ahead?
Some Premier League managers, Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers in particular, have been critical of the scheduling of the upcoming league fixtures. Rodgers was made to heavily change his team for Liverpool’s trip to Oldham as the Reds travel to Arsenal (on Wednesday) and Manchester City (on Sunday) in the week ahead. The Liverpool boss believed fresh legs were needed and opted to sacrifice the FA Cup for more pressing matters in the league.
Liverpool will play an Arsenal side that has been in indifferent form recently at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night. In the last Premier League matchday, Arsenal was just about as poor as I’ve seen them all season when they succumbed to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. They then knocked four past West Ham in 10 minutes to demolish their London rivals a few days later.
Oliver Giroud has four goals in two games for the Gunners, which has forced Theo Walcott back into a wide position. It will be interesting to see whether Arsene Wenger opts to sacrifice Giroud’s brilliant form for the pace of Walcott against Liverpool’s slow defence on Wednesday night.
Newcastle’s French revolution will begin in the Midlands on Tuesday night when they come up against an Aston Villa side in the midst of a relegation battle. The Magpies have signed no less than five French internationals in the January transfer window, spending in excess of £17 million on Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Yoan Gouffran, Massadio Haidara and Moussa Sissoko. The new signings join the four Frenchman already at St James’ Park – Yohan Cabaye, Haten Ben Arfa, Sylvain Marveaux and Gabriel Obertan – making it nine Frenchman in Alan Pardew’s side.
Things just can’t get worse for Aston Villa at the moment. Camped just a point outside the relegation zone, Paul Lambert’s side was unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup by a hungrier Millwall on Friday night. It came just days after the club failed to defeat League Two side Bradford in the League Cup semi final. The Villa hierarchy remains adamant that Lambert is the right man for the job, however if more bad results come their way, his head may be on the chopping block.
Norwich went on an incredible 10-match unbeaten run earlier in the season, however when that ended on December 22 with a 2-1 loss to West Brom, they’ve failed to win since. Chris Houghton now has a job on his hands to galvanise a side that has most recently come off a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool and a loss to non-league Luton in the FA Cup. The Canaries host Tottenham this weekend.
West Brom’s biggest problem at the moment seems to be coming from within. Star striker Peter Odemwingie went on a bizarre Twitter rant on Friday night after the club confirmed they had rejected his request for a transfer. Odemwingie has been strongly linked with a move to QPR this January, however after the Baggies refused to grant him permission to leave, the 31-year-old took aim at the club via social media in a tirade that lasted several hours. Odemwingie isn’t likely to be selected in West Brom’s match with Everton on Wednesday night.
New Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino would have seen plenty of positives in the Saints’ goalless draw with Everton last time out. His side, inherited from Nigel Adkins, who I still can’t believe got sacked, played with a fantastic tempo and probably should have got all three points against the Toffees. Pochettino faces an even bigger test this week though, when Southampton travel away to Manchester United.
There’s something about midweek fixtures that I just love. There’s just something about early morning wake ups on hot summer days to watch footballers run around in sub-zero temperatures on the other side of the world. This week should be no exception.
Predictions
Wednesday January 30 at 6.45am
Aston Villa 0-1 Newcastle
Stoke 2-1 Wigan
Sunderland 1-1 Swansea
QPR 1-2 Manchester City
Thursday January 31 at 6.45am
Norwich 1-2 Tottenham
Everton 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool
Thursday January 31 at 7.00am
Manchester United 3-0 Southampton
Fulham 1-1 West Ham
Reading 0-2 Chelsea
Riley Beveridge is a second-year Bachelor of Sports Journalism student at La Trobe University. You can follow him and his footballing views at his Twitter account: @RileyBev.
